24-01-23. Match report Vs Curzon Ashton

Harriers get their first win in 2023

Report: Phil Lench

We left fogbound and freezing Kidderminster at 4pm for Manchester and found that it isn’t always grim ‘Oop North’. In fact it was quite glorious with a mild temperature and absolutely no fog. It was even more glorious by the end of the evening as the Harriers came away from Curzon Ashton with three, nice, warming points in the bag.

Earlier in the season Curzon had beaten the Harriers at Aggborough for the first time ever so tonight we were, in a way, looking for a little revenge.

Two changes from Saturdays home draw against Bradford (PA) saw Amari Morgan-Smith return to the starting eleven in place of Ethan Freemantle while Joe Foulkes came in for Alex Penny who was being eased back in carefully following his injury. Little did we think at the time that again Alex would soon be back on the field following yet another early injury to Joe.

The game got underway with the Harriers in complete control and searching for the all important opening goal. In the first minute NKP went close as his shot got deflected away then Shane Byrne’s effort was blocked away by the Curzon keeper Chris Renshaw. Ten minutes later and Renshaw was in action again pushing away Ashley Hemmings shot from outside the box. In between Ryan Halls ball across the box was collected by Tom Palmer before Tom Peers could connect properly.

During the first period of play the referee, Andrew Sykes, had been very petty in pulling up players for the slightest offence. Bump shoulders: talking too. Slight shirt pull: talking too. 50/50 ball: talking too.

On the half hour mark the evening was over for Joe Foulkes. Right in front of the Harriers dugout both Joe and Sam Walker went for the same ball but Walker was far too late and upended Joe with a crunching tackle. This time the referee totally ignored the incident and waved play on. It was the other players that told him to stop play as Joe lay there in agony. He spoke to Walker in a finger wagging way and then Walker started to mouth off at our players and our bench. A few minutes later and, following initial treatment Joe was helped off and Alex came on.

Alex coming on gave us a little more solidity at the back as we continued to go in search of a goal. Curzon were struggling to cope with us and had hardly made any kind of pressure on us let alone getting near our goal. It was Morgan-Smith that was the next for us to try and score when his shot was deflected away for a fruitless corner. Just before the break Hemmings sent his angled shot wide to sum up our poor shooting skills this season.

With a minute to go Curzon had their first sight of goal when Josh Hancock got himself into a good position but his attempt was tame and Palmer collected easily.

HT: 0 – 0

Curzon had obviously received the hairdryer treatment from their manager, Adam Lakeland, as the came out looking more up for it after the break. It wasn’t quite a Dyson hairdryer but more of a Morphy Richards type. They began to get closer to Palmer but still without really testing him and instead it was us that still looked the more likely to score.

Kai Lissimore wriggled between defenders to get a shot away but it was weak and easily held. Probably our best shot of the night came soon after when Tom Owen-Evans got onto the end of a free kick and fired a dipping shot in that almost crept under the bar until at the last second Renshaw managed to tip the ball over. A minute later and we had taken the lead, a lead we were to keep.

Lissimore played a ball into the area for Jack Bearne who then fed in Reiss McNally. He tried to get a clear sight of it but saw it deflected away slightly to Nathaniel Knight-Percival who managed to turn it into the net from close range for his first ever goal for the Harriers.

The watching Alex Penny obviously thought if NKP could score then why shouldn’t he and seeing a space he took the ball forward to unleash a shot from distance that went over the bar. We continued to pile the pressure on and when Bearne beat a defender to the ball in the corner and then saw the ball run free he saw his chance and made his way towards goal just as Renshaw came for the ball. They collided without any intent or outcome and Jack got booked for the 50/50 challenge. Now didn’t we see one of those go unpunished earlier?

Curzon were still trying to get near our goal and sent on new signing Hayden Campbell to get them that little bit nearer. His first chance ended in a dive in the area that the Curzon bench called as a penalty but, for once, the ref saw through it and waved the calls away.

With time running down the Harriers were having to defend more and more as Curzon tried to rescue a point. That looked to be the case when Will Hayhurst broke through but fired his shot straight at Tom Palmer but the closest was to come when Campbell got on the end of a cross to head goalwards. It beat Palmer but a last gasp lunge by Krystian Pearce saw the Chief clear the ball off the line. It did look to have crossed the line to many down that end and, from where we were it looked close, but thankfully the assistants flag didn’t signal that and the game came to a close a few minutes later.

The three points gave us our first win since we won at Hereford FC on Boxing Day and moved us up from fifteenth to ninth in the table although we’ve now played more games that many other clubs. Now for another three points at Peterborough Sports this coming Saturday.

FT: 0 – 1

Goal for Harriers: Knight-Percival 54

The Harriers Online MotM is: Nathaniel Knight-Percival

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Curzon Ashton	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Renshaw
J Richards
Barton
Poscha
Matthews
Mahon			68
R Hall			74
Walker
Peers
Hancock			88
Hayhurst
Subs:
Waring
Campbell			68
Smales-Braithwaite			88
Jessop			74
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Palmer
Foulkes			30
McNally
Knight-Percival
Pearce
Byrne
Owen-Evans
Lissimore			92
Morgan-Smith
Hemmings
Bearne			94
Subs:
Penny			30
Martin			92
Margetson
Freemantle			94
McGlynn
Referee:
Mr Andrew Sykes
Lytham St Annes